Opinion > April 17, 2008

By Hannah Werthan | Asst. opinion editor

As I enter the final weeks of the school year, I feel as though I already have enough to worry about with papers, projects and, eventually, finals all on the horizon. After all, we aren’t called Work Forest for nothing.

I didn’t expect that my main concern would be that my schedule for next semester is quite possibly the most upsetting thing that I’ve seen in awhile.

I know I should be grateful that one of the biggest of my worries in my life right now is that I currently have four classes in a row on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays — a sequence that begins at 9 a.m. might I add — but I can’t help but be bitter. I have three classes back-to-back this semester and by the third class, I’m stuck staring at the clock begging for mercy. I have yet to be let out of class even a minute early.

I am — okay, my family is — paying an extremely high tuition for me to come here, so I feel as though I should be able to have at least a slightly better schedule.

I have not had a good sign up time anytime I have had to register, and all I can do is wonder why the registrar’s office hates me so much.

Last semester, I came up in near hysterics because there were literally no classes left for me to take. I sat with someone going through every single department, including departments I did not know existed on this campus, trying to find enough hours for me to take.

Eventually, I was told to sign up for an 8 a.m. Spanish class, when I was already signed up for a 9 a.m. German class. I couldn’t even imagine how difficult it would be to take two languages in a row, especially that early in the morning.

Luckily, a spot in a history class randomly opened, so I was able to switch into that class. Still, the entire experience was not pleasant in the slightest.

I am one of those people who is anxious about everything, which is why registration seems to consistently put me over the edge. In class, I would just visualize WIN in my head in an attempt to predict whether wait lists in the classes that I wanted were completely full or just about to become completely full. Instead of doing homework, I would find myself mindlessly clicking “refresh” over and over again until my eyes no longer had the ability to focus.

At times, I would ponder, “Should I go out now or should I first torture myself by checking that my dreams of taking decent classes with good professors are being crushed by upperclassmen?”

Of course, I believe that the upperclassmen should get to pick their classes before me, a lowly freshman. However, I still felt betrayed by the system.

One of the problems, in my opinion, is that you only pick eight hours at once. So basically, you have to go through the torture of registering (and then dealing with complete failure, at least in my case) twice. My body can only handle so much chocolate in a two-week period. My homework can also only handle so much neglect.

Another annoyance of mine is that some classes have space held for the incoming freshmen. Are you kidding me? I want to take this class but some random person who at this point may not have even decided to attend this school is going to get priority over me in August. Also, Wake Forest should not accept 80 more freshmen next year in the first place.

Before I came to college, I thought that registration was going to be a fun process. Now I know the truth.

Hannah Werthan is a freshman from Nashville, Tenn.